The fourth planet belonged to a businessman. This man was so much occupied that he did not even raise his head at the little prince s arrival.

Transcription

1 13 The fourth planet belonged to a businessman. This man was so much occupied that he did not even raise his head at the little prince s arrival. Good morning, the little prince said to him. Your cigarette has gone out. Three and two make five. Five and seven make twelve. Twelve and three make fifteen. Good morning. Fifteen and seven make twenty-two. Twenty-two and six make twenty-eight. I haven t time to light it again. Twenty-six and five make thirty-one. Phew! Then that makes five-hundred-and-one million, six-hundredtwenty-two-thousand, seven-hundred-thirty-one. Five hundred million what? asked the little prince. Eh? Are you still there? Five-hundred-and-one million I can t stop... I have so much to do! I am concerned with matters of consequence. I don t amuse myself with balderdash. Two and five make seven... Five-hundred-and-one million what? repeated the little prince, who never in his life had let go of a question once he had asked it. The businessman raised his head. During the fifty-four years that I have inhabited this planet, I have been disturbed only three times. The first time was twenty-two years ago, when some giddy goose fell from goodness knows where. He made the most frightful noise that resounded all over the place, and I made four mistakes in my addition. The second time, eleven years ago, I was disturbed by an attack of rheumatism. I don t get enough exercise. I have no time for loafing. The third time well, this is it! I was saying, then, five-hundred-and-one millions Millions of what? The businessman suddenly realized that there was no hope of being left in peace until he answered this question. Millions of those little objects, he said, which one sometimes sees in the sky. Flies? Oh, no. Little glittering objects. Bees? Oh, no. Little golden objects that set lazy men to idle dreaming. As for me, I am concerned with matters of consequence. There is no time for idle dreaming in my life. Ah! You mean the stars? Yes, that s it. The stars. And what do you do with five-hundred millions of stars? Five-hundred-and-one million, six-hundred-twenty-two thousand, sevenhundred-thirty-one. I am concerned with matters of consequence: I am accurate. And what do you do with these stars? What do I do with them? Yes. Nothing. I own them. You own the stars? Yes. But I have already seen a king who Kings do not own, they reign over. It is a very different matter. And what good does it do you to own the stars? It does me the good of making me rich. And what good does it do you to be rich? It makes it possible for me to buy more stars, if any are discovered. This man, the little prince said to himself, reasons a little like my poor tippler... Nevertheless, he still had some more questions. How is it possible for one to own the stars? To whom do they belong? the businessman retorted, peevishly. I don t know. To nobody. Then they belong to me, because I was the first person to think of it. Is that all that is necessary? Certainly. When you find a diamond that belongs to nobody, it is yours. When you discover an island that belongs to nobody, it is yours. When you get an idea before any one else, you take out a patent on it: it is yours. So with me: I own the stars, because nobody else before me ever thought of owning them.

2 Yes, that is true, said the little prince. And what do you do with them? I administer them, replied the businessman. I count them and recount them. It is difficult. But I am a man who is naturally interested in matters of consequence. The little prince was still not satisfied. If I owned a silk scarf, he said, I could put it around my neck and take it away with me. If I owned a flower, I could pluck that flower and take it away with me. But you cannot pluck the stars from heaven... No. But I can put them in the bank. Whatever does that mean? That means that I write the number of my stars on a little paper. And then I put this paper in a drawer and lock it with a key. And that is all? That is enough, said the businessman. It is entertaining, thought the little prince. It is rather poetic. But it is of no great consequence. On matters of consequence, the little prince had ideas which were very different from those of the grown-ups. I myself own a flower, he continued his conversation with the businessman, which I water every day. I own three volcanoes, which I clean out every week (for I also clean out the one that is extinct; one never knows). It is of some use to my volcanoes, and it is of some use to my flower, that I own them. But you are of no use to the stars... The businessman opened his mouth, but he found nothing to say in answer. And the little prince went away. The grown-ups are certainly altogether extraordinary, he said simply, talking to himself as he continued on his journey. 14 The fifth planet was very strange. It was the smallest of all. There was just enough room on it for a street lamp and a lamplighter. The little prince was not able to reach any explanation of the use of a street lamp and a lamplighter, somewhere in the heavens, on a planet which had no people, and not one house. But he said to himself, nevertheless: It may well be that this man is absurd. But he is not so absurd as the king, the conceited man, the businessman, and the tippler. For at least his work has some meaning. When he lights his street lamp, it is as if he brought one more star to life, or one flower. When he puts out his lamp, he sends the flower, or the star, to sleep. That is a beautiful occupation. And since it is beautiful, it is truly useful. When he arrived on the planet he respectfully saluted the lamplighter. Good morning. Why have you just put out your lamp? Those are the orders, replied the lamplighter. Good morning. What are the orders? The orders are that I put out my lamp. Good evening. And he lighted his lamp again. But why have you just lighted it again? Those are the orders, replied the lamplighter. I do not understand, said the little prince. There is nothing to understand, said the lamplighter. Orders are orders. Good morning. And he put out his lamp. Then he mopped his forehead with a handkerchief decorated with red squares. I follow a terrible profession. In the old days it was reasonable. I put the lamp out in the morning, and in the evening I lighted it again. I had the rest of the day for relaxation and the rest of the night for sleep. And the orders have been changed since that time? The orders have not been changed, said the lamplighter. That is the tragedy! From year to year the planet has turned more rapidly and the orders have not been changed! Then what? asked the little prince. Then the planet now makes a complete turn every minute, and I no longer have a single second for repose. Once every minute I have to light my lamp and put it out!

3 That is very funny! A day lasts only one minute, here where you live! It is not funny at all! said the lamplighter. While we have been talking together a month has gone by. 15 The sixth planet was ten times larger than the last one. It was inhabited by an old gentleman who wrote voluminous books. A month? Yes, a month. Thirty minutes. Thirty days. Good evening. And he lighted his lamp again. As the little prince watched him, he felt that he loved this lamplighter who was so faithful to his orders. He remembered the sunsets which he himself had gone to seek, in other days, merely by pulling up his chair; and he wanted to help his friend. You know, he said, I can tell you a way you can rest whenever you want to... I always want to rest, said the lamplighter. For it is possible for a man to be faithful and lazy at the same time. The little prince went on with his explanation: Your planet is so small that three strides will take you all the way around it. To be always in the sunshine, you need only walk along rather slowly. When you want to rest, you will walk and the day will last as long as you like. That doesn t do me much good, said the lamplighter. The one thing I love in life is to sleep. Oh, look! Here is an explorer! he exclaimed to himself when he saw the little prince coming. The little prince sat down on the table and panted a little. He had already traveled so much and so far! Where do you come from? the old gentleman said to him. What is that big book? said the little prince. What are you doing? I am a geographer, said the old gentleman. What is a geographer? asked the little prince. A geographer is a scholar who knows the location of all the seas, rivers, towns, mountains, and deserts. That is very interesting, said the little prince. Here at last is a man who has a real profession! And he cast a look around him at the planet of the geographer. It was the most magnificent and stately planet that he had ever seen. Then you re unlucky, said the little prince. Your planet is very beautiful, he said. Has it any oceans? I am unlucky, said the lamplighter. Good morning. I couldn t tell you, said the geographer. And he put out his lamp. Ah! The little prince was disappointed. Has it any mountains? That man, said the little prince to himself, as he continued farther on his journey, that man would be scorned by all the others: by the king, by the conceited man, by the tippler, by the businessman. Nevertheless he is the only one of them all who does not seem to me ridiculous. Perhaps that is because he is thinking of something else besides himself. He breathed a sigh of regret, and said to himself, again: That man is the only one of them all whom I could have made my friend. But his planet is indeed too small. There is no room on it for two people... What the little prince did not dare confess was that he was sorry most of all to leave this planet, because it was blest every day with 1440 sunsets! I couldn t tell you, said the geographer. And towns, and rivers, and deserts? I couldn t tell you that, either. But you are a geographer! Exactly, the geographer said. But I am not an explorer. I haven t a single explorer on my planet. It is not the geographer who goes out to count the towns, the rivers, the mountains, the seas, the oceans, and the deserts. The geographer is much too important to go loafing about. He does not leave his desk. But he receives the explorers in his study. He asks them questions, and he notes down

4 what they recall of their travels. And if the recollections of any one among them seem interesting to him, the geographer orders an inquiry into that explorer s moral character. Why is that? Because an explorer who told lies would bring disaster on the books of the geographer. So would an explorer who drank too much. Why is that? asked the little prince. Because intoxicated men see double. Then the geographer would note down two mountains in a place where there was only one. I know some one, said the little prince, who would make a bad explorer. That is possible. Then, when the moral character of the explorer is shown to be good, an inquiry is ordered into his discovery. One goes to see it? No. That would be too complicated. But one requires the explorer to furnish proofs. For example, if the discovery in question is that of a large mountain, one requires that large stones be brought back from it. The geographer was suddenly stirred to excitement. But you you come from far away! You are an explorer! You shall describe your planet to me! And, having opened his big register, the geographer sharpened his pencil. The recitals of explorers are put down first in pencil. One waits until the explorer has furnished proofs, before putting them down in ink. Well? said the geographer expectantly. Oh, where I live, said the little prince, it is not very interesting. It is all so small. I have three volcanoes. Two volcanoes are active and the other is extinct. But one never knows. One never knows, said the geographer. I have also a flower. We do not record flowers, said the geographer. Why is that? The flower is the most beautiful thing on my planet! We do not record them, said the geographer, because they are ephemeral. What does that mean ephemeral? Geographies, said the geographer, are the books which, of all books, are most concerned with matters of consequence. They never become old-fashioned. It is very rarely that a mountain changes its position. It is very rarely that an ocean empties itself of its waters. We write of eternal things. But extinct volcanoes may come to life again, the little prince interrupted. What does that mean ephemeral? Whether volcanoes are extinct or alive, it comes to the same thing for us, said the geographer. The thing that matters to us is the mountain. It does not change. But what does that mean ephemeral? repeated the little prince, who never in his life had let go of a question, once he had asked it. It means, which is in danger of speedy disappearance. Is my flower in danger of speedy disappearance? Certainly it is. My flower is ephemeral, the little prince said to himself, and she has only four thorns to defend herself against the world. And I have left her on my planet, all alone! That was his first moment of regret. But he took courage once more. What place would you advise me to visit now? he asked. The planet Earth, replied the geographer. It has a good reputation. And the little prince went away, thinking of his flower.

5 16 When the little prince arrived on the Earth, he was very much surprised not to see any people. He was beginning to be afraid he had come to the wrong planet, when a coil of gold, the color of the moonlight, flashed across the sand. So then the seventh planet was the Earth. The Earth is not just an ordinary planet! One can count, there, 111 kings (not forgetting, to be sure, the Negro kings among them), 7000 geographers, 900,000 businessmen, 7,500,000 tipplers, 311,000,000 conceited men that is to say, about 2,000,000,000 grown-ups. To give you an idea of the size of the Earth, I will tell you that before the invention of electricity it was necessary to maintain, over the whole of the six continents, a veritable army of 462,511 lamplighters for the street lamps. Seen from a slight distance, that would make a splendid spectacle. The movements of this army would be regulated like those of the ballet in the opera. First would come the turn of the lamplighters of New Zealand and Australia. Having set their lamps alight, these would go off to sleep. Next, the lamplighters of China and Siberia would enter for their steps in the dance, and then they too would be waved back into the wings. After that would come the turn of the lamplighters of Russia and the Indies; then those of Africa and Europe; then those of South America; then those of South America; then those of North America. And never would they make a mistake in the order of their entry upon the stage. It would be magnificent. Only the man who was in charge of the single lamp at the North Pole, and his colleague who was responsible for the single lamp at the South Pole only these two would live free from toil and care: they would be busy twice a year. 17 When one wishes to play the wit, he sometimes wanders a little from the truth. I have not been altogether honest in what I have told you about the lamplighters. And I realize that I run the risk of giving a false idea of our planet to those who do not know it. Men occupy a very small place upon the Earth. If the two billion inhabitants who people its surface were all to stand upright and somewhat crowded together, as they do for some big public assembly, they could easily be put into one public square twenty miles long and twenty miles wide. All humanity could be piled up on a small Pacific islet. The grown-ups, to be sure, will not believe you when you tell them that. They imagine that they fill a great deal of space. They fancy themselves as important as the baobabs. You should advise them, then, to make their own calculations. They adore figures, and that will please them. But do not waste your time on this extra task. It is unnecessary. You have, I know, confidence in me. Good evening, said the little prince courteously. Good evening, said the snake. What planet is this on which I have come down? asked the little prince. This is the Earth; this is Africa, the snake answered. Ah! Then there are no people on the Earth? This is the desert. There are no people in the desert. The Earth is large, said the snake. The little prince sat down on a stone, and raised his eyes toward the sky. I wonder, he said, whether the stars are set alight in heaven so that one day each one of us may find his own again... Look at my planet. It is right there above us. But how far away it is!

6 It is beautiful, the snake said. What has brought you here? I have been having some trouble with a flower, said the little prince. Ah! said the snake. 18 The little prince crossed the desert and met with only one flower. It was a flower with three petals, a flower of no account at all. And they were both silent. Where are the men? the little prince at last took up the conversation again. It is a little lonely in the desert... It is also lonely among men, the snake said. The little prince gazed at him for a long time. You are a funny animal, he said at last. You are no thicker than a finger... But I am more powerful than the finger of a king, said the snake. The little prince smiled. You are not very powerful. You haven t even any feet. You cannot even travel... I can carry you farther than any ship could take you, said the snake. He twined himself around the little prince s ankle, like a golden bracelet. Whomever I touch, I send back to the earth from whence he came, the snake spoke again. But you are innocent and true, and you come from a star... The little prince made no reply. You move me to pity you are so weak on this Earth made of granite, the snake said. I can help you, some day, if you grow too homesick for your own planet. I can Oh! I understand you very well, said the little prince. But why do you always speak in riddles? I solve them all, said the snake. And they were both silent. Good morning, said the little prince. Good morning, said the flower. Where are the men? the little prince asked, politely. The flower had once seen a caravan passing. Men? she echoed. I think there are six or seven of them in existence. I saw them, several years ago. But one never knows where to find them. The wind blows them away. They have no roots, and that makes their life very difficult. Goodbye, said the little prince. Goodbye, said the flower.